Music Monday's Story of Persistence Paying Off

Leading character in The Founder, a movie we rented on DVD last week, stated at the end of the film, when asked what was the secret of his success, as good advice for anyone looking to do likewise, said: "Persistence - persistence is what you need!" Wondering which song might echo that thought for Music Monday, passing over Taking Care of Business, I thought of Aerosmith and Steven Tyler and Dream On:

Every time when I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer
The past is gone
It went by, like dusk to dawn
Isn't that the way
Everybody's got the dues in life to pay
I know nobody knows
Where it comes and where it goes
I know it's everybody sin
You got to lose to know how to win

Dream on
Dream on
Dream…

The Founder: a bio-pic on Ray Kroc, they guy we have to thank for the spread, and spread.... and spread of those famous, but now oft despised, Golden Arches.

Michael Keaton plays the man himself, and does it with the subtlety and skill his fans have come to expect. We enjoyed the film. Perhaps Mr Kroc was dealt with in too kind a light in places, for he did leave behind him a few broken hearts - and yet, one could also see how things might have been different, if... lots of what ifs!

Ray Kroc said he owed all of his successes to his persistence - dreaming on in face of huge difficulties, he reached even further than I suspect even he had ever dreamed. I couldn't dislike him from this depiction, though had a different actor been in the leading role, I might have felt differently.

I knew Ray Kroc's story before seeing the movie, having researched and written a blog post about Kroc several years ago, and posted it more than once, in 2007 then in 2012, see here:


http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2007/10/ray-kroc-and-mcdonalds.html
and
http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2012/05/mcdonalds-born-today-in-1940-propelled.html

“I like people who level with me and speak their minds. I always say exactly what I think; it’s a trait that’s gotten me in trouble plenty of times, but I never have problems getting to sleep at night with a guilty conscience. That’s why I could never be a politician”


I never considered my dreams wasted energy; they were invariably linked to some form of action. When I dreamed about having a lemonade stand, for example, it wasn't long before I set up a lemonade stand."
-- Ray Kroc

McDonald's born today in 1940 - Propelled To Fame under Ray Kroc's Leadership

I noticed in Wikipedia's list of notable events for this day, 15 May, that on 15 May 1940 – "McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California".

My feelings about MacDonald's were neutral when I first arrived on these shores. I'd sampled their wares, a BigMac, one time only, when Mac's first opened a store in the town where my parents lived. Mum and Dad were keen to try this new delicacy. Before that, the only hamburger joints I'd seen in England were Wimpy Bars where the only choice used to be "with or without onions". Upon association with my now husband I soon became educated in what he sees as the evil of MacDonald's. Now we enter their doors for one main reason - to use the restrooms/toilets when travelling. I've been known to partake of the odd smoothie or iced coffee on occasion, and - oh yes - once, when overnighting in a tiny town with no other cafe open at breakfast time we had to rely on MacDonald's for a couple of Egg MacMuffins. We survived! I secretly suspect that husband is a tad unfair to the Golden Arches.

As today is the original MacDonald's birthday, I'll put up again some details from a 2007 post as to the history of what became the giant corporation we know today.

Ray Kroc was the man who developed the juggernaut we now know as McDonald's. He didn't invent the hamburger, nor the idea of fast food per se - what he did was market these things so brilliantly that what started as that 1940 fast food restaurant, developed and owned by the McDonald brothers, Dick and Mac in California, became one of the world's biggest international corporations.

A good on-line biography HERE starts thus:

"In 1954, a fifty-two-year-old milk-shake machine salesman saw a hamburger stand in San Bernardino, California, and envisioned a massive new industry: fast food. In what should have been his golden years, Raymond Kroc, the founder and builder of McDonald's Corporation, proved himself an industrial pioneer no less capable than Henry Ford. He revolutionized the American restaurant industry by imposing discipline on the production of hamburgers, french fries, and milk shakes. By developing a sophisticated operating and delivery system, he insured that the french fries customers bought in Topeka would be the same as the ones purchased in New York City. Such consistency made McDonald's the brand name that defined American fast food."

Here's Ray Kroc's natal chart (drawn up for 12 noon as no birth time is available). He was born on 5 October 1902 in Oak Park, Illinois. Generationally he's one of that brilliant Pluto in Gemini generation who helped in giving birth to what became known as "The American Dream". Also extracted from the link above, this snippet is intriguing:

"Kroc's father had taken four-year-old Raymond to see a phrenologist -- a practitioner of a nineteenth century "medicine" that divined insights into a person's character and capabilities from the skull's shape and size. After groping and probing the bumps on the youngster's head, the phrenologist pronounced that the child would work in the food-service industry. "

Without birth time we can't know what his 10th house of career contained, but I'd bet that Saturn would lie on or close to one of the angles. With a birth time of around 6pm Saturn would be in 10th, Sun and Venus in 6th and Aries rising - that would fit particularly well!

His chart is well-balanced element-wise. There's an Air Grand Trine - Sun/Jupiter/Pluto, all linked by 120* harmonious trine aspects. This is significant for an entrepreneur whose brilliance and success relies strongly on mental processes.

Another chart pattern here is what astrologers call a Yod (or Finger of Fate) - made up of two planets forming a sextile aspect both also forming quincunx (150*) aspects to another planet, making up in an arrow-like configuration. In Kroc's case the sextile is between Pluto and Mars, with arrow's apex at Saturn in Capricorn. If I had to pinpoint the most significant factor in this man's chart, it would be this! Saturn in Capricorn, the businessman's planet in it's own sign, hooked up to powerful and energetic Pluto and Mars - the configuration is quite tight too, making it more intense.

Saturn trines Venus in Virgo - here is the attention to detail which must have been so important in setting up a chain of fast food restaurants, all serving the same food prepared in the same way, so that the result is consistent and reliable. Another extract from the link mentioned above:

"Espousing the idea that "there is a science to making and serving a hamburger," Kroc endowed his beef patties with exacting specifications -- fat content: below 19 percent; weight: 1.6 ounces; diameter: 3.875 inches; onions: 1/4 ounce. Kroc even built a laboratory in suburban Chicago to devise a method for making the perfect fried potato in the late 1950s".

Mars in Leo, trining Uranus in Sagittarius provided the spark which helped turn an ordinary salesman with good business sense into a world-class entrepreneur. Sun in Libra trining Jupiter in Aquarius provided the tact, quick thinking and diplomacy needed to clinch deals. The deal Kroc eventually made with the McDonald brothers is legendary:

"It was not an easy time for Ray Kroc. He was suffering from diabetes and arthritis. His gall bladder and thyroid gland had already been surgically removed. But the desire to succeed burnt throughout his body. In a final act of refined salesmanship Ray Kroc managed to convince the brothers (McDonald) to sell the company to him. He asked them to name their price. The $2.7 million that Ray Kroc paid in 1961 for the McDonalds Corporation is considered to be one of the greatest acts of salesmanship of all time."(From HERE)

The juggernaut had started to roll!

Ray Kroc and McDonald's

Ideas on what to blog about often come from unexpected sources. A few days ago we were out on the road in a torrential downpour. We decided to wait it out at the nearest pull-in, which happened to be a McDonald's. This was much against the principles of HeWhoKnows who considers McDonald's food as one step away from the garbage bin. I think that's a little unfair. However, on this occasion it was "needs must", and McDonalds' coffee had to be preferable to a bumperoony in our precious car!

So it was that in a pleasant, recently refurbished McDonald's, I enjoyed a warm cinnamon roll and started to wonder how this great juggernaut of a company first started.

Ray Kroc was the man who developed the juggernaut we now know as McDonald's. He didn't invent the hamburger, nor the idea of fast food per se - what he did was market these things so brilliantly that what started as a single fast food restaurant owned by the McDonald brothers in California, finished as one of the biggest international corporations in the world.

A good on-line biography HERE starts thus:

"In 1954, a fifty-two-year-old milk-shake machine salesman saw a hamburger stand in San Bernardino, California, and envisioned a massive new industry: fast food. In what should have been his golden years, Raymond Kroc, the founder and builder of McDonald's Corporation, proved himself an industrial pioneer no less capable than Henry Ford. He revolutionized the American restaurant industry by imposing discipline on the production of hamburgers, french fries, and milk shakes. By developing a sophisticated operating and delivery system, he insured that the french fries customers bought in Topeka would be the same as the ones purchased in New York City. Such consistency made McDonald's the brand name that defined American fast food."

Here's Ray Kroc's natal chart (drawn up for 12 noon as no birth time is available). He was born on 5 October 1902 in or near Chicago. Generationally he's one of that brilliant Pluto in Gemini generation who helped in giving birth to what became known as "The American Dream". Also extracted from the link above, this snippet is intriguing:

"Kroc's father had taken four-year-old Raymond to see a phrenologist -- a practitioner of a nineteenth century "medicine" that divined insights into a person's character and capabilities from the skull's shape and size. After groping and probing the bumps on the youngster's head, the phrenologist pronounced that the child would work in the food-service industry. "



Without birth time we can't know what his 10th house of career contained - that's a pity, but I'd bet that Saturn would lie on or close to an angle. With a birth time of around 6pm Saturn would be in 10th, Sun and Venus in 6th and Aries rising - that would fit particularly well!

There's an Air Grand Trine in Ray Kroc's chart - Jupiter/Pluto/Sun, the orbs are a little wide, but I still think it's significant for an entrepreneur whose brilliance and success relies mainly on mental processes. The other chart pattern I notice is what's known as a Yod - made up of a sextile aspect and two inconjunct aspects - forming an arrow like configuration. In Kroc's case the sextile is between Pluto and Mars, with arrow point at Saturn in Capricorn. If I had to pinpoint the most significant factor in this man's chart, it would be this! Saturn in Capricorn, the businessman's planet in it's own sign, hooked up to powerful and energetic Pluto and Mars - and configuration is quite tight, probably making it more intense.

Saturn trines Venus in Virgo - here is the attention to detail which must have been so important in setting up a chain of fast food restaurants, all serving the same food prepared in the same way, so that the result is consistent and reliable. Another extract from the link mentioned above:

"Espousing the idea that "there is a science to making and serving a hamburger," Kroc endowed his beef patties with exacting specifications -- fat content: below 19 percent; weight: 1.6 ounces; diameter: 3.875 inches; onions: 1/4 ounce. Kroc even built a laboratory in suburban Chicago to devise a method for making the perfect fried potato in the late 1950s".

Mars in Leo, trining Uranus in Sagittarius provided the spark which helped an ordinary salesman with good business sense into a world-class entrepreneur. Sun in Libra trining Jupiter in Aquarius provided the tact, quick thinking and diplomacy needed to clinch deals. The deal Kroc eventually made with the McDonald brothers is legendary:

"It was not an easy time for Ray Kroc. He was suffering from diabetes and arthritis. His gall bladder and thyroid gland had already been surgically removed. But the desire to succeed burnt throughout his body. In a final act of refined salesmanship Ray Kroc managed to convince the brothers (McDonald) to sell the company to him. He asked them to name their price. The $2.7 million that Ray Kroc paid in 1961 for the McDonalds Corporation is considered to be one of the greatest acts of salesmanship of all time." (From HERE)

The juggernaut had started to roll!